New Orleans Hornets fall flat against Los Angeles Lakers

David Grunfeld, The Times-PicayuneDavid West and the Hornets had a difficult time Tuesday night shooting over Pau Gasol and the Lakers' tall front line.

Almost every time Hornets forward David West tried to maneuver to get an open shot Tuesday night at the New Orleans Arena, a taller Los Angeles Lakers frontcourt player got in his way.

It forced West to press. Unable to shoot over 7-footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, West missed six of his first seven shots and was out of rhythm for nearly the entire game.

Without West shooting effectively nor his teammates, the Hornets could not avoid a 100-87 loss to the Lakers in front of a sellout crowd of 18,405 that included Gov. Bobby Jindal.

West averages 20 points per game, but he finished with 13 on 5-of-15 shooting. Chris Paul and Rasual Butler led the Hornets with 17 points each. Morris Peterson came off the bench to score 16, hitting six of nine shots.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 26 points. Gasol had 20 and Bynum 13. It was the Lakers' second consecutive victory this season against the Hornets at the Arena. Last month, despite 30 points from Paul, the Lakers prevailed 93-86.

"This is a clear difference between them and us, " West said. "We haven't gotten there yet, but whenever we play them again, hopefully we'll be better. They're really a team that's loaded up defensively. They didn't have to guard us; we were trying to beat them on one side of the floor, and that's not going to happen."

Coach Byron Scott urged before the game that they take the fight to the Lakers (23-5) from the start, the Hornets (16-8) were unable to carry out his request.

It did not help that backup point guard Antonio Daniels (knee) and starting small forward Peja Stojakovic (back spasms) were unable to play. Stojakovic missed his third consecutive game, and there is chance he might not play Christmas Day against the Orlando Magic.

It was a night the Hornets needed a perimeter shooter, effective playmaking besides Paul and tough defense. But the Lakers dominated the second quarter after withstanding the Hornets' initial push when Hilton Armstrong scored twice and Peterson drove the lane for a layup.

It quickly turned to the Lakers' favor because of their quick-scoring possessions, along with the Hornets' inability to make shots. The Lakers outscored the Hornets 32-17 in the second quarter to take a 56-37 halftime lead.

Midway in the third quarter, the Lakers extended their lead to 21 before the Hornets played with better effort and cut the deficit to 96-87 with 49 seconds left.

"Two of our worst games have been against this team, " Scott said. "It could be us. It could be them. As a young group, we can't get that emotionally involved in the game, and we got to play better."

The loss snapped the Hornets' six-game home winning streak. Against the Lakers and Celtics, who played in last season's NBA Finals, the Hornets are 0-3 this season. Last month, the Hornets lost to the Lakers 93-86 at the Arena. Twelve days ago, they lost to the Celtics 94-82 at the TD Banknorth Garden

The Lakers beat the Hornets repeatedly on drives from the baseline that ended with dunks. They outrebounded the Hornets to extend possessions. Early in the third quarter, the Lakers had a 26-17 rebounding advantage. By the end of the game, though, the Hornets closed the gap to 39-38.

During the second quarter, when the Lakers took control, the Hornets had one offensive rebound. The Lakers had four, and they made 12 of 22 shots for 54.2 percent, though Bryant missed seven of nine. Paul was held to four points and one assist during the quarter, and West missed all three shots from the field but made three of four free throws.

"I thought we sustained an effort against Paul and tried to keep him out of the paint, " Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "I think the big deal is West. We really wanted to try to get that matchup the right way. Pau has done a good job on him before with his length, and I thought that really helped tonight that we had that length. We didn't let (West) get loose. He's a 20-point-a-game scorer, and we were able to cut that down a little bit."

Too often, the Hornets forced shots with only few seconds remaining on the shot clock.

Los Angeles rode the momentum of an 8-0 run to take a 38-28 lead, despite not getting much offensive help from Bryant, who had only three points in his first nine minutes on the floor.

The Lakers effectively executed with over-the-top passes to Bynum, who was able to grab offensive rebounds and score on dunks. From the start, Gasol had his way in the post, making seven of his first eight shots to lead the Lakers with 16 points in the first half.

"We fought hard and came out aggressive, but they got us, " Paul said. "It's always tough when you have two 7-footers down there because a lot of teams go high-low with 7-footers to 6-8 players. In the end, we dug ourselves a hole."

West scored five points in the first half, and the Hornets' bench was outscored 22-10. New Orleans struggled to make layups, and it made only 11-of-18 free throws.

Bryant was a non-factor in the first quarter, playing just four minutes before drawing his second foul.

With 10 points, Butler was the Hornets' only player to score in double figures by the midway point of the third quarter.

Paul quickly extended his steals streak to 108 consecutive games when he stripped the ball from Luke Walton during the opening two minutes. Paul had four steals in the first eight minutes.

The Hornets had not allowed more than 95 points in each of their previous eight games. But the Lakers came in as the highest-scoring team in the league at 107.3 points per game.

"We can't come out and play like we did in the first half and then try to make it an uphill battle against a team like the Lakers, " Peterson said. "Tonight we came up short, and it's a disappointing night."

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John Reid can be reached at jreid@timespicayune.com or at 504.826.3407.